Social Media Ads are only good for branding purposes, Period. (Well, for most of the time).

But how can this be true? How is it possible for giants like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to fail in their effort to provide a reasonable cost vs. return on digital campaigns? Facebook, for example, has been investing billions of dollars in research and development to advance and make their algorithm more sophisticated and effective in serving users with more relevant content. How come that even after all these years, Facebook is still catching up Google Ads and other PPC platforms?

Why can’t social media networks provide the same, or even better, revenue return as campaigns on Search Engines?

You’ll hear many social media experts claim that both correct campaign optimization and audience selection are crucial for a successful social media campaign. This is mostly true but, did you ever consider that due to the size of the Cyprus internet market, there is no way to provide reasonable reach for any audience category without expanding it to fit more characteristics? Unfortunately, with the current internet technology, platforms cannot correctly categorize users. Another issue at play for the Cyprus market is that traffic volume to break down in market segments is mostly inexistent, due to market size restriction. In simple words, even though campaign optimization is crucial for a successful campaign, it will still not provide the results you’re aiming for.

In addition to the above, there are countless studies on the internet concluding that Social Media Networks can provide reasonable success to campaigns that are related to products or services with a purchase cost of 50 Euros or less. The more expensive a product or service is, the worse it will sell on Social Media Networks.

On the other hand, Social Media Networks have historically proven successful in providing branding and community-building opportunities. This type of return cannot linearly affect sales and cannot be measured by the traditional Cost vs. Return approach. If you want to see the effect of a branding campaign you can use formulas like Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Brand Recall KPI’S.

At the end of the day though, the whole discussion boils down to a single element, the Human Element. People do go to their social media profiles to buy products and services, they log in to share their moments, brag about achievements and accomplishments and to connect with friends, lovers, and fellow minded individuals. So, the purchase intent is missing from the equation as Social Media users usually seek to connect with the rest of the world.

So, to create effective Social Media Campaigns you need to embrace the nature of the network you’re running the campaign on. Only then you will be able to create a campaign that is relevant and relatable to the intent of these users.

Want to share your thoughts with me? Post a comment below or Get in touch and I’ll happily get back to you.